Egypt’s Grand Egyptian Museum (GEM) is set to open to visitors from around the world on November 1st, marking the completion of one of the country’s most significant modern achievements.
Designed as a global cultural and entertainment landmark, the museum will house the largest collection dedicated to ancient Egyptian civilization, including the complete treasures of Pharaoh Tutankhamun — displayed together for the first time since his tomb’s discovery in 1922.
The museum also includes children’s and education centers, temporary exhibition halls, cinemas, conference facilities, gardens and retail spaces. It employs the latest digital and conservation technologies to preserve and display more than 100,000 artifacts.
Archaeologist Abdel-Rahim Rihan said the museum will showcase 5,300 items from Tutankhamun’s tomb, among them his gold funerary mask, ceremonial chair and jewelry, displayed across two 7,000-square-meter galleries with immersive virtual presentations. He described the mask as “the most valuable artifact in the world,” symbolizing divine protection and the ancient belief in life after death.
The GEM will also feature the fully restored Khufu funerary boat, transferred from its original pit beside the Great Pyramid, and visitors will be able to watch the live restoration of the second boat over three years. Other highlights include colossal statues of Amenhotep III and Horus, and pieces moved from museums and archaeological sites across Egypt.
Rihan called the museum’s inauguration “the greatest cultural and tourism project in the world,” emphasizing that all its artifacts belong to Egypt’s own heritage. The opening, timed with the start of the tourist season, is expected to boost arrivals by three million, helping Egypt move toward its target of attracting 30 million tourists by 2030.
This museum houses some of the most important and rare treasures on Earth, telling the story of Egypt within a masterpiece of architecture that blends engineering creativity with historical grandeur. Its design is based on the concept of transitioning from the modern world to the world of the Pharaohs, guiding visitors on a journey through Egypt’s ancient history, offering an interactive architectural experience that highlights the distinctiveness and authenticity of Egyptian identity and its magnificence.
The idea of creating the Grand Egyptian Museum dates back to before the new millennium. The project began in the 1990s, and by 2002, the Egyptian government, through the Ministry of Culture and the General Authority for Investment and Free Zones, announced an international competition to design a new museum complex that would house the greatest archaeological treasures in Egypt and the world, combining Egyptian identity with modern architectural style and acting as a cultural gateway between modern Cairo and the Pyramids of Giza.
The competition was organized in collaboration with the International Union of Architects, making it one of the largest international architectural competitions in history.
Over 1,550 teams from 82 countries participated. The projects were evaluated by an international jury of experts in architecture, museums, and ancient Egyptian history.
This competition represents a model of transparency and competitiveness in major cultural projects, as well as one of the most significant architectural and cultural achievements in the world.
It is a model that is now studied in architectural schools around the globe for its integration of identity, location, sustainability, and modern museum experiences.
In 2003, the symbolic foundation stone was laid at the project site, and the architectural design competition for the museum was won by the Irish architecture firm “Heneghan Peng Architects.”
The design team included 300 specialists representing 13 companies from six different countries. The construction of the Grand Egyptian Museum began in 2005, featuring a creative architectural design with a view of the Giza Pyramids.
The design is inspired by the rays of sunlight extending from the three pyramid peaks—only two kilometers away—leading to the museum.
The reason behind the selection of this design, which covers an area of 500,000 square meters, is that it takes into account the unique geographical location on the edge of the desert plateau.
It successfully integrates the desert and the Nile into a single architectural vision at the first desert plateau between the pyramids and Cairo.
This location, which rises about 50 meters due to the carving of the Nile’s path through the desert to the Mediterranean Sea, represents a geological formation that has contributed to shaping Egypt’s topography over thousands of years.
One of the artistic features of the museum’s design is its direct visual connection with the pyramids through precise geometric axes. The architectural composition includes a three-dimensional structure defined by a set of visual axes extending from the site to the three pyramids, forming the framework in which the museum appears.
The design takes advantage of the difference in elevation between the Nile Valley and the desert plateau to create a new edge for the plateau, positioning the museum between the two levels without rising above it, preserving its visual harmony with the pyramids’ historical horizon. It thus forms a point of intersection between the two geological regions, with a massive transparent stone façade that changes its features between day and night.
As for the museum’s interior design, it is characterized by clarity and smoothness, guiding visitors through a series of architectural layers.
The museum consists of five main axes extending towards the pyramids, while the sixth axis represents the chronological path, symbolized by the Great Staircase, with its gradual ascent from the entrance hall to the permanent exhibition halls, passing through special and temporary exhibitions, and offering a majestic view of the pyramids from the highest point of the staircase.
The halls are organized on one level, allowing visitors to fully appreciate the scale and greatness of Egyptian civilization. The ceiling folds and massive structural walls define the spatial rhythm of the museum, and the design offers a clear organization of vast spaces with high flexibility in exhibition methods, controlling natural light through the folds of the ceiling. Additionally, the large, slanted semi-transparent stone façade is executed to change its appearance with the shifting light.
GEM is the largest museum and archaeological complex dedicated to a single civilization in the world. It houses around 100,000 ancient artifacts, including 24,000 square meters of permanent exhibition halls, a children’s museum, conference and educational facilities, and a massive restoration center.
It also features expansive gardens both inside and outside the museum’s master plan.
The museum will display the complete collection of King Tutankhamun’s treasures, along with artifacts from the prehistoric to the Greek and Roman periods, including the solar boat that was previously exhibited near the pyramids.
As a comprehensive cultural complex, the museum also includes permanent exhibition halls totaling 24,000 square meters, equivalent to about four football fields, a children’s museum, a conference and education center, a massive restoration center, and expansive gardens.
Egypt’s Cabinet Media Center published a series of infographics on social media highlighting the country’s final preparations for the inauguration of the Grand Egyptian Museum (GEM), describing it as “Egypt’s gift to the world.”
The infographics said that as the official opening date approaches, Egypt is preparing for a long-awaited global event marking the culmination of years of work and a milestone in the display and documentation of ancient Egyptian civilization. The Grand Egyptian Museum is described as one of the world’s most significant cultural landmarks, combining historical depth with innovative design and advanced display technology to reaffirm Egypt’s leading position on the global tourism map.
According to the release, the GEM has earned international recognition and multiple awards, including eight ISO certifications in energy management, occupational health and safety, environment, and quality, as well as the “EDGE Advance” certification for green buildings for 2024, making it the first green museum in Africa and the Middle East.
The museum also won the 2024 Prix Versailles for architectural excellence as one of the world’s most beautiful museums, and the International Federation of Consulting Engineers (FIDIC) Award for the world’s best project in 2024.
Travel guide publisher Lonely Planet described the GEM as the largest archaeological museum complex in the world dedicated to a single civilization, spanning periods from 700,000 BC to 394 AD. UNESCO said the museum would offer Egyptians and international visitors an unparalleled opportunity to explore over 5,000 years of ancient history.
Occupying a total area of 490,000 square meters near the Giza Plateau, the museum houses more than 57,000 artifacts, including a 7,000-square-meter main entrance featuring a colossal statue of King Ramses II. It includes a 6,000-square-meter “Grand Staircase” rising six stories high, 12 main exhibition halls covering about 18,000 square meters, and temporary exhibition spaces of around 1,700 square meters. A 7,500-square-meter gallery is devoted to the treasures of King Tutankhamun, displaying more than 5,000 objects together for the first time.
The complex also includes a 5,000-square-meter Children’s Museum and is expected to attract around five million visitors annually.
Construction of the museum began in 2005 with site preparation, followed by full-scale building works starting in 2016. Trial operations began in October 2024, and the official grand opening is scheduled for November 1, 2025. The ceremony is expected to draw heads of state, royalty, and international dignitaries in a global event underscoring Egypt’s historical prominence.
Several world leaders have already toured the museum ahead of its opening, including French President Emmanuel Macron, Angolan President João Lourenço, Comoros President Azali Assoumani, Singaporean President Tharman Shanmugaratnam and Croatian Prime Minister Andrej Plenković.
The infographics stressed that the Grand Egyptian Museum stands as one of Egypt’s most important national projects and a global cultural achievement, designed to preserve the country’s heritage while promoting sustainable tourism.
Egypt has implemented a clear sustainability strategy in constructing the museum, focusing on renewable energy use, including solar installations in parking areas developed in cooperation with the Industrial Modernization Center, the UN Development Programme, and the Ministry of Electricity and Renewable Energy. The GEM uses natural lighting and ventilation, smart energy management systems and eco-friendly construction materials such as locally sourced marble and granite.
Water conservation systems collect and reuse rainwater and wastewater for irrigation, while waste reduction, recycling programs, and environmental awareness initiatives are integrated into museum operations.
These efforts have earned the GEM several awards, including Best Green Building Project at the Environment and Development Forum in 2022 and a Gold Certificate for Green Building and Sustainability under Egypt’s Green Pyramid Rating System.
Internationally, the museum has been recognized with certifications for occupational health and safety, environmental management, quality systems and COVID-19 risk management. Its “EDGE Advance” certification from the International Finance Corporation (IFC) confirms its status as the first green museum in Africa and the Middle East.
https://sis.gov.eg/en/media-center/events/the-opening-ceremony-of-the-grand-egyptian-museum/